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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team committed 20 costly turnovers Thursday and allowed the VMI Keydets to score 25 points off its mistakes Thursday in the 2014-15 Southern Conference opener for both squads as the Bulldogs dropped an 88-66 decision at home in the Pete Hanna Center.
 
"I'll take 100-percent credit for this loss," said Samford head coach Scott Padgett. "I thought we were a better offensive team than we are right now. It's just that simple. I thought we could play this style and be able to score against this team all night in 2-on-1 and 3-on-2 situations. We were in those situations the whole game, but the problem was that we didn't make the layups."
 
Samford (3-6, 0-1 SoCon) squared off against VMI (4-4, 1-0 SoCon) for the first time in over 47 years and suffered its first loss to the Keydets. Despite the setback, the Bulldogs still own a 2-1 all-time advantage in the series between the teams.
 
Samford outshot and out-rebounded VMI on Thursday, but committed 10 more turnovers. The Keydets capitalized on the Bulldogs' miscues and outscored Samford, 25-9, in points off turnovers.
 
"Our turnovers were terrible," Padgett said. "We knew that they were going to press very hard in the very front of the press, but once you beat it, you're going to have a very easy 2-on-1 situation. As we got up the court, we were making bad passes and not finding each other, and that's just a matter of chemistry and playing with each other as a team."
 
The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick six-point lead, 8-2, at the 17:12 mark in the opening period. VMI would eventually battle back and closed out the first half with a 25-10 run and held a 50-40 lead at the intermission.
 
In the second frame, Samford opened the period with three straight layups from Christen Cunningham and Tyler Hood. Hood's up-and-under move was sandwiched in between a pair of driving baskets from Cunningham, who is the reigning SoCon Freshman of the Week.
 
VMI, which scored a season-high 133 points in its decisive victory over Mid-Atlantic Christian on Tuesday, then knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers from Julian Eleby and QJ Peterson to extend the Keydets lead back to 10 points at 56-46.
 
Down the stretch, Samford would get no closer than eight points as VMI controlled the momentum of the game and earned its 88-66 victory.
 
"Late in the game, they switched to the 1-3-1 zone and we got really tentative and didn't do a good job of attacking a gap and hitting the cutter at the goal," Padgett said. "This loss is on me. We definitely won't play them the same way next time, because we're obviously not as good on the offensive end of the court as I thought we were heading into tonight."
 
The Keydets' Peterson, who was named a Preseason All-SoCon member as only a sophomore this season, led all scorers with 28 points.
 
VMI's hardnosed 6-foot point guard from Hedgesville, West Virginia, only shot 5-of-19 from the floor, but did a majority of his damage from the free-throw line. Peterson finished 15-of-17 from the charity stripe as VMI shot 35 free throws, compared to 16 for the Bulldogs.
 
The Keydets' Eleby came off the bench to drop in 19 points, while Jordan Weethee added 14 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.
 
Samford's Michael Bradley also registered a double-double Thursday as the Bulldogs' 6-foot-11 senior center scored 11 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. The double-double proved to be Bradley's first of the season. He finished 5-of-10 from the field in 26 minutes of action.
 
Samford's leading scorers against VMI were Darius Jones-Gibson and Hood with 13 points apiece.
 
Jones-Gibson turned in a strong all-around game Thursday with five rebounds, five assists and four steals, while finishing a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Hood also pulled down seven key rebounds in the contest and turned in a 6-of-11 outing from the floor.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 3 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue play in their 2014-15 league schedule against the Furman Paladins in a pivotal league test to be held at Timmons Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.

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